AT&T Eyes Major Gigabit Internet Expansion (PCMagazine)

• BY STEPHANIE MLOT
• APRIL 21, 2014 03:02PM EST

AT&T has committed to or is exploring 25 metro areas for fiber deployment.

AT&T is expanding its ultra-fast fiber network to cover up to 100 candidate cities nationwide, including 21 major metropolitan areas.

The service provider is working with local leaders across the country to discuss ways of bringing AT&T's 1 gigabit-per-second speeds to consumers and businesses across the country.

Following its initial rollout in Austin and Dallas, Texas, and Raleigh-Durham and Winston-Salem, N.C., AT&T U-verse is now eyeing areas in Atlanta, Augusta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Worth, Greensboro, Jacksonville, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Oakland, Orlando, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose.

All counted, AT&T's Project Velocity has committed to or is exploring 25 metro areas for fiber deployment. For a closer look at each city, check out the U-verse website.

"We're delivering advanced services that offer consumers and small businesses the ability to do more, faster, help communities create a new wave of innovation, and encourage economic development," Lori Lee, senior executive vice president of AT&T Home Solutions, said in a statement.

U-verse with GigaPower services are expected to include Internet speeds up to 1 gigabit per second, which is faster than even the fastest of today's consumer speeds. Running gigabit, AT&T said, users can download an HD movie in less than 36 seconds, download 25 songs in one second, and download a TV show in less than three seconds.

Subscribers can also count on high-tech TV services and super speedy Wi-Fi.

Earlier this month, AT&T announced that it is in talks with the North Carolina Next Generation Network (NCNGN) to bring U-verse to parts of the Triangle and Piedmont Triad areas.

A little further west, the company is gained approval to access "network huts" on San Antonio city property to facilitate the future rollout of gigabit Internet.

In February, Google announced that it was on the hunt for the next city or cities that will receive its gigabit Internet service. Google invited cities in nine metro areas to work with the Google Fiber team and "see if Fiber is a good fit," including Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Phoenix, Portland, Raleigh-Durham, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, and San Jose. Cities will be selected by year's end.